a16z Leads Seed Round For Santa Monica Film Distribution Startup Filmhub

Filmhub—a Santa Monica-based company cutting out Hollywood’s middle-man to allow filmmakers to distribute their content straight to streaming services—has raised $6.8 million in seed funding led by Silicon Valley venture giant Andreesen Horowitz.

The round included participation from investors including 8VC, FundersClub, Eleven Prime, Rupa Health CEO Viswanathan, Candid CEO Nick Greenfield and Codecov CEO Jerrod Engelberg, TechCrunch reported.

Filmhub provides filmmakers with a way to distribute their work directly to big-name streaming services like Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV without relinquishing their rights. The startup was co-founded in 2016 by Klaus Badelt, a composer and producer who has written scores for films such as “Gladiator,” “The Thin Red Line” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Filmhub co-founder and CEO Alan d’Escragnolle told Deadline Hollywood that Filmhub’s goal is to empower filmmakers through “ownership and monetization opportunities”.

Should Filmhub continue to grow in reach and viability, it could mark a major shift away from the traditional studio model, where filmmakers are often forced to surrender the rights to their work. Filmhub aims to solve this by offering filmmakers a no-frills, 80/20 revenue split with no upfront payment. The startup’s model also speaks to the growing power of streaming services, with viewers increasingly ditching their cable boxes in favor of the 200-plus streaming platforms available in the U.S. as of last year.

Filmhub is also finding synergies with like-minded startups in its hometown. It recently partnered with Struum, a Los Angeles-based platform that has been dubbed “ClassPass for streaming” and compiles content created by smaller video streaming services under its own subscription.